You Stopped Running Months Ago
by wowsugarpuss
Summary: Logan and Veronica find each other at Lilly's funeral.


He crossed the short distance over to where she was standing alone, wringing a tissue between her small shaking hands. "Hey."

Veronica looked up warily, her eyes damp. "Hi."

"You okay?" his voice was more choked than he would have liked, rough around the edges and clogged with tears he was unwilling to shed—especially in public.

"Um, not really," she admitted with a quick sniff, bringing the wrinkled Kleenex to her face.

"Yeah." He nodded sympathetically, understanding.

"Have you seen Duncan?" she sounded hopeful and although he knew he was going to side with his best friend Logan hated to be the one to let her down.

Logan hesitated and the rejection flickered over Veronica's features, marring the optimism that had bloomed quickly and faded faster.

Tucking the tissue into her bag she quirked her mouth in a sad smile, trying to be the polite, well-meaning girl she had been brought up to be—trying not to make a scene. "He's avoiding me, isn't he?"

"I don't know," Logan shifted his weight to his other foot awkwardly, "he's not really acting like D, you know?"

She nodded, ducking her head in acceptance. "I just wish he would talk to me."

"I'm talking to you." He nudged her arm gently, joking.

Veronica attempted a watery smile in return. "Yeah, but you're not my boyfriend."

His face fell and she regretted the words the instant she realized: Lilly was dead. And her boyfriend was avoiding her but Logan's girlfriend had _died_. They were never going to recover from that last fight because Lilly had never recovered from the heavy, gaping wound in her skull.

"I'm sorry," her voice was so quiet with shame she was surprised he heard her. She was even more surprised when she actually got a response.

"'S'okay," he shoved his hands into his pockets protectively. "Gotta get used to it."

She seemed encouraged, "You seem to be taking it well."

He sucked in a deep breath, making a show of exhaling as he tried to quell the pressure inside his chest and avoid crying. "She died, and it sucks, but I can't do anything about it."

"I would really like to stop crying," she sniffled.

Logan looked torn as if he wanted to offer a comforting hand on her arm or pull her in for a hug, but they had never been that kind of friends. It didn't seem right to start now, not when Lilly was being covered over with dirt.

"I—I have to go see a shrink," he blurted out, wrapping his arms tightly around himself to stop from touching her.

Veronica looked up, mildly shocked. "Me too. My mom wants me to talk about it."

"My dad thinks it'll look good for the family. My mom said it would be good for me."

She didn't fail to notice the differences between his parents' motives, but Logan had never had a good word to say about his father, she never asked why. "What made them decide?"

"Clemmons doesn't want any more violent outbursts at school." He smiled wryly, lips pressed tightly together until the edges lightened flesh-white.

She quirked her mouth awkwardly, "Nobody should have said those things."

"It's true though, V. I just didn't want to hear it," he sounded too matter-of-fact, too accepting of the situation. It was almost sad, if there hadn't been worse things happening then it would have been.

"Logan, Lilly never cheated on you. She was my best friend, I would have known."

"Don't be so _naïve_, Veronica," he rolled his eyes, almost spitting the words, his first real show of emotion in days. "Lilly cheated on me _constantly_."

"Really?" Veronica hated how young she sounded, how clueless.

He ducked his head in a short nod. "Yeah. All the time."

"I'm so sorry about Yolanda," she tried to keep her words from becoming gasps as the air filtered out of her lungs and regret piled in.

"Yeah," he swallowed roughly. "That's kinda redundant now."

She breathed a tentative sigh of relief. "You're not mad?"

"Seems kind of pointless."

As Veronica puffed out the breath fresh tears sprung to her eyes. "I would have told you if I caught her cheating."

"I know."

Veronica didn't know if he believed her, but she wasn't in a state to argue with Logan—with anyone really, but definitely not with someone who would argue back. "I mean—I—" a choked little sob uprooted itself in her throat as her face crumpled. "I _miss_ her."

Logan gave up as her chest hitched, untangling his arms from around himself as he wrapped them around her shoulders—guilty to feel something warm and solid under his skin now that Lilly was gone. Whether or not they were over, she died before it ever became official enough—he was going to be trapped in the limbo of her boyfriend forever.

Veronica's face pressed against his shoulder, her tears seeped—wet and hot—through to the fabric of his shirt. The lace on her black dress chaffed under his fingers. His eyes stung. His chest ached.

She felt warm and soft and solid and if she'd been anyone else—if they'd been anywhere else—he might have taken her home. Or to a movie that didn't star his dad—any place that supported soft delusions and taking cheap comfort in skin.

But she was Veronica, and she came complete with memories of Lilly and summer time and school and pool parties and soccer uniforms and limo rides and—and Logan was _not_ crying. Even if his eyes burned a little and maybe his cheeks felt damp as he hid his face in her hair.

He didn't really notice when her arms came up around his back, clutching at the jacket of the expensive suit his mother had picked out for him. He barely noticed when she pulled away. Veronica's dad put his hand on her arm gently and nodded toward the car, leaving them to untangle themselves. Her hands moved to Logan's sides as she lifted her face from his chest. He didn't realize how close they were until her cheek was pressed into his and they stuck slightly as she pulled away, brushing damp hair off his face.

Her mascara was smudged and her dad was waiting in the car with her mom. Logan nodded as Veronica backed up, lifting her hand in a tiny wave. He wiped his face with the back of one hand and then stuffed both into his pockets—watching her back out of the church. He slumped back against a wall and waited while his parents shook hands and took business cards—always an occasion.

Moving outside he saw a tiny car take off with a tiny blonde and when she was gone he went to find Duncan.


End file.
